This picture is a photo dramatization of the famous play by George Broadhurst dealing with modern political corruption, and is the fourth of the William A. Brady features to be released by the World Film Corporation. That it will meet with the success of its original on the legitimate stage there can hardly be any doubt. Not only is the picture story equally forcible and true to life as the stage version, but the picture allows of many little bits of characterization and detail, necessarily omitted before the footlights, that greatly enhance the human heart interest of the story and bring before us most vividly the reality of the characters as human beings. The actors from Robert Warwick, who created the part and plays the central character in both play and photodrama, down to the sneak thief, butlers, aldermen and other supers, have made the most of their opportunity in a very intelligent and gratifying way and except on rare occasions make us forget that they are actors and actresses. Especially good are Ned Burton as the corrupt political boss, Eric Mayne as the unscrupulous financier and false friend, Alec B. Francis as the trusting and ruined father of the "man of the hour," and Belle Adair as the heroine. Mention should also be made of the two western characters: Chester Barrett as the hero's "pal" and Thomas Jackson as the sheriff. The exteriors are very well chosen and some of them are extremely beautiful. The interiors are also noteworthy for their fidelity to the atmosphere and tone of the story and especially remarkable are the convention hall where the man of the hour makes his campaign speech and the council room of the board of aldermen where the fight on the franchise bill is played. Political plays as a rule have on the screen a farcical element due to the fact that the settings in which they are played are manifestly unreal. The undoubted genuineness of the settings in "The Man of the Hour" eliminate this element and force home to the spectator in a most telling way the reality of what is being enacted. - Moving Picture World, October 24, 1914
